As with every Olympic Games…
we too ended up with a great Olympic Mascot!!!

Kinda reminded me a bit of “The Blob” from The Gigglesnort Hotel…
but this guy didn’t talk… or mumble?… just sayin’…

The final event of our Pottery Olympics was a “crazy constructions” challenge! They had two pounds of clay… and a brown bag full of crazy parts & pieces. They had to use everything to make the tallest free-standing structure. It was so much fun for me to watch the teams try different techniques as they grew & toppled over & over again. Eventually they came together… and one was easily towering over the rest… too bad it was tough to get the tallest structure in a good photo?!

Simply enamored with how the carpenter here creatively used the ends of the boards to highlight the woodgrain patterns & textures. So simple… yet so elegant & amazing!!!

Once the twist was revealed, my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students had a half hour to paint their handbuilt fruits. Their clay fruits looked great without color… but the underglazes really brought them to LIFE!!!

For this week’s LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class project, I decided to kick it off with a little visual inspiration! Only Mother Nature can create this amazing collection of shapes, colors & textures! But my students were going to give it a try too!!!

To start this week’s LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, my students had a homework assignment… to carve patterns, designs or stories onto the 6-inch cubes they made the week before!

They came back with amazing pieces… but it was Clara that really ROCKED IT OUT!!! Her winning cube was based on some “bullfrog” rap song… which she actually brought in to play for us as she “presented” her finished cube!!! All five sides tell the story… with the bottom as “The End.”

Simply AMAZING!!!

Okay, so we decided to “celebrate” today’s holiday with an afternoon break to play with some Magic Eye images… I mean, it is NATIONAL HAVE FUN AT WORK DAY after all. Remember the visual fun from the ‘90s where a 3D images appears if you stare at the picture long enough?! I love these!!!It was Scott’s first time trying… and honestly, he wasn’t so good at it. He only saw one! I found them all… but now my eyes feel a little crossed!!!

Last session, my friend & fellow teacher Chelsea was doing a class on different glazing techniques. And I “just happened” to have this large un-stamped & un-glazed vase on my teacher’s shelf… leftover from my Surface Decoration class almost a year ago! Good intentions for a good demo… but I never quite got around to it in class… don’t judge!

So I offered it up for Chelsea to play with as one of her class demos! Everyone knows that glazing is my least favorite step of the process… so if someone else volunteers, I’m all in! And she did an amazing job with several different glazes & techniques all playing well together! Thanks Chelsea… you can glaze more of my stuff any time!!!

Looks like my pals Allison & Terry were back at Illinois Beach State Park yesterday to continue their scavenger hunt for the “elusive” hidden fortune cookies… for their third time! Looks like they found three more “cookies” this time… which makes up for their second trip where they found none! Looks like it was a beautiful day for hunting… and much easier to find them before last night’s snowfall.

Not sure what’s going on with this angry cardboard box at loading dock Sky 15?… but it made me smile… and then run away in fear… all the while giggling?!!!